Remembering 9/11

RingOfFire11

Today as I watch my husband leave for work (a firefighter), I will be remembering 9/11. Today we should remember those lives that were lost, and remember the firefighters, police, paramedics who didn't care about your race, where you came from, what God you worshiped or if you were Gay, Straight, Republican or Conservative. They cared about saving lives, even before their own.

Where were you on 9/11?

Kitiara5512

I was driving in to work listening to the news. Then an hour after getting to the shop the mall said to close down. Customers came in after I closed the door (just opened it and walked in) and got pissy with me for saying we were closing and made comments about it being just a plane crash. It didn't sink in for me for a couple more days and then I broke down and cried at home.

FrickandFrack

I had just graduated high school a few months before and was working at a Montessori School.  I was pulling into the parking lot and thought it was a joke on the radio station.  It didn't really sink in until I walked inside and parents were freaking out and so were the staff. We weren't going to close but there was some type of military office in our office park so everyone had to evacuate.

Arnegard

I was at work.  A co-worker with a long commute walked in and told us a plane had just crashed into the twin towers and we thought she was smoking something.  We all had to look it up online.

HenHen25

I was in Spanish class, junior year of high school. My teacher rolled out the tv before class started, and I remember being excited to watch a movie. Instead we watched the second plane hit the tower.

Lilywildcat

I was home on 9/11 and was still sleeping when it was going on. My mom called me because she was listening to the news on radio. I got up and started watching TV, just in time to see the first tower collapse. I was horrified and speechless as more facts started coming out. Then the other tower came down...and the horror seemed to continue ...i was in a horrified state for days after that. I'll never forget that day.

KJmashup

I was in a telecommunications skyscraper in downtown Dallas. They wouldn't let us leave work. However, I had a previously scheduled dentist appointment that afternoon and thus left early. 

On that day, there was no road rage. Everyone drove calmly and methodically down the highway. The downtown area was a ghost town by noon. The crystal-clear, blue sky was eerily quiet, devoid of air traffic.

That was the first time I'd ever heard of Osama Bin Laden. 

kcisthebombdotcom

I was a sophomore in college. I walked into my first class of the day and there was a girl sobbing at her desk, frantically dialing her phone over and over. Her brother was working in the twin towers. Luckily he made it out alive. My professor came in and sent everyone home.

michaelaskedlauren

I was a junior in college. My Mom called, waking me up and all she said was "Daddy's fine, Daddy's fine." I asked her why my Dad wouldnt be fine, and she told me to turn on the TV.

missymo

I was driving to work at my first postcollege job. When I got there I was frantically explaining to coworkers small office only 4 people what I'd heard, and they told me a 2nd plane had hit.

I remember being so sure they were wrong. I literally must have heard one of the first reports because at the time it was still being reported ONE small plane had hit.

As details emerged my boss was unsure what to do. I went to set up at the health fair at the local university as planned.

I saw my boyfriend current husband on campus and he confirmed class was still in. So I set up my booth, but all anyone could talk about was what might be happening in NY.

Classes were cancelled after an hour and we gathered in homes and at bars to watch the coverage. For some reason, no one could look away. We couldn't pretend it wasn't happening.

I will never forget that my father in law was supposed to be there that day. He is an international businessman and he was scheduled to have a meeting somewhere at the WTC that morning. His plans changed last minute and the meeting was moved to Sept. 12.

canhardlywait1

I was at a conference in Washington with 1000's of other people.  I drove with a colleague to upper state NY and found the last rental for hundreds of miles and drove home to my family in Mass.

I have watched a lot on 9/11 over the past week.  It gives me such anxiety and breaks my heart but it's my way of remembering and paying tribute to all of those that lost their lives.

LadyXaverian

It was the first semester of my last year of college. I went to an early morning class and then headed back to my apartment. I picked up breakfast at a little cafe on my way. I turned on Regis and Kelly just as they were cutting in with the news. I watched the whole thing unfold... all of the speculation about what kind of plane it was... and then that moment when the 2nd plane hit and it became horrifyingly clear that it was an attack.

Even thought I went to college at a small undergraduate school in small town Nova Scotia, we were all so deeply affected by what was happening in New York that our school president called off classes for the rest of the day.

ktshoff

I was young, living in Charleston, SC and partying all night the night before.  I didn't wake up until around noon on 9/11.  I didn't turn the TV on and got ready to take my cat to the vet to be spayed.  I listened to my answering machine and there were messages from my mom and dad saying that they were just checking on me.  I thought that was weird but just continued out the door. 

I was taking my kitty to the vet and was listening to my cd player, no radio. Going through downtown Charleston I noticed people standing on the side of the road in the rain, holding American flags.  I obviously found this odd.  I then noticed flags flying half mast so I turned on the radio.  It was then that I heard Tom Brokaw's voice recapping the events of the horrible morning. 

I turned around to take my kitty and myself back to my apartment and watched tv for the rest of the day and just started sobbing.  I tried to call my parents but I couldn't get through.  I was finally able to reach them and just wanted to be near them so bad!!

Oh, what a horrible, horrible day.

LadyXaverian

KJmashup:

I was in a telecommunications skyscraper in downtown Dallas. They wouldn't let us leave work. However, I had a previously scheduled dentist appointment that afternoon and thus left early. 

On that day, there was no road rage. Everyone drove calmly and methodically down the highway. The downtown area was a ghost town by noon. The crystal-clear, blue sky was eerily quiet, devoid of air traffic.

That was the first time I'd ever heard of Osama Bin Laden. 

This made me cry.

stilts1

I was at work at a vet clinic teaching a vet student how to clean a dog's teeth.  We heard on the radio that a plane had hit the tower and I just assumed it was a little Cesna or Piper and it was no big deal.  They we heard that another plane had hit the towers and we knew this was no joke.  My boss turned on the tv and we just stared in shock.   

CoffeeBeen

I was sleeping.  My school year had been delayed due to some problems with our school building, so it was one of my last days of summer vacation.  My mom woke me up to tell me the news.  I want to say that I was too young to really understand what was happening, but even now I can't fully comprehend that day. 

LovesMM

I was a Senior in high school and was on my way to class. I heard about the first plane in the car and immediately went inside the ROTC room and had them turn on the TV. I had just gotten back from basic training not even 2 weeks before it happened and I knew then the my military "career" would be way different than I thought it would be when I signed up.

Libby1978

I was at home with the twins.  It was 4 days before their 3rd birthday.  We had the TV on watching the coverage.  I was in shock.  I was wondering what kind of world I had brought these two children into.  Very scary for a young parent.

mamaZbo

I was in class my sophomore year of college and heard people talking about a plane crash. I didn't think much of it until I went to meet a friend for breakfast where I heard the whole story. We went back to my dorm and watched the second plane hit on the news. Classes were cancelled and a prayer service was held in the afternoon. I think classes may have been cancelled the next day as well.

jess60

I was here at work.  I was IMing my BFF & she mentioned a plane had crashed into the WTC.  We naturally assumed it was a small twin engine plane & an accident like most everyone else when the news first broke.  By the time it was revealed that it had been a commercial airline, my coworkers had the TV on in the breakroom.  I walked in to see what was going on just as the 2nd plane hit.

The rest of the day was a blur & I was fearful of future attacks.  I even laid awake at night envisioning planes dropping bombs over the U.S.  I know that sounds silly now but at the time, I was scared it would be a real life Red Dawn or something.

It was eerily strange to not see any planes in the sky in the following days.  Even now when I see a plane nearing the downtown area I get a little uneasy.

michaels_girl

I had flown into Ann Arbor the night before to do a week of audits in Michigan.  I watched Saved By The Bell reruns while getting dressed, then headed to the hotel lobby for breakfast.  The giant tv in the lobby had a picture of a skyscraper on fire, and I remember thinking it was weird they were showing a movie instead of the news.  And then I realized it wasn't a movie.

I drove to the office I was auditing trying to absorb the news over the radio.  Like a PP said, everything was very orderly on the road.  The gas stations were crowded with people, and by the time I left the office that afternoon prices had risen a few dollars.  When I arrived at the office, (surprise audit), I just told them to take their time and leave the door open and the tv/radio going.  I brought everyone in for a meeting and during that the Pentagon was hit.  I wrote them a no finding audit spent the rest of the morning with the staff.

I was, of course, unable to get home and work wanted me to continue on since I was already there, so I just called my family and DH and spent some lonely nights in hotel rooms with Peter Jennings.  I developed such a strong attachment to him that I was heartbroken when he died a few years later. 

My boss had a breakfast appt at Windows on the World that morning.  He hated to spend money on a hotel room, so he was in the air on his way when the planes started to hit.  his flight was diverted.   We didn't know he was safe until later that afternoon.

zeptattoo

I was a first year teacher and it was 3rd period Biology.  A note was slipped under our door just saying that planes crashed into the towers.  I don't remember if it mentioned the Pentagon or not.  The timing was about 9:30-10 so it might not have happened or been reported yet.

I teach about 20 minutes outside of DC and many of my kids' parents were governemnt workers, so as the day went on, panic mode rose.  It was crazy by the end of the day b/c communication was impossible and the kids couldn't get a hold of their parents.  It was surreal.

I remember three of my Muslim students moved by the end of the week b/c their parents were diplomats and had to leave to return to their countries. 

The wing of the Pentagon that was destroyed was were my parents met and worked together for a few years.

andyyougoonie

I was in college. My boyfriend had just left for work. I turned on the TV and watched the Today show as both planes crashed. I had a 9am class that I went to to find out it was canceled.

My cousin's fiance worked in the twin towers.  She stopped to pick up a prescription on her way to work that morning.  That prescription saved her life.

My mom called to tell me to meet at our family's farm if there were more attacks.  lol.  She's always planning for the apocolypse.

suziqnc

I was at home from work, sick, that morning.  My XH called me in a panic after the first plane hit and woke me up.  At the time, I traveled a lot for work, and he thought maybe I had been flying that day, especially when he called my work and I wasn't there.  When he told me what was going on, I turned the TV on just in time to see the second plane hit.  I stayed in front of the television for 2 days, I just couldn't walk away for fear that something else would happen.

MintBerryCrunch

I was a freshman in college and running late for my first class that day. I briefly caught site of a tv in the buildingbefore heading into the classroom, but I didnt really register what was happening. We had class like normal, and upon leaving the classroom found the whole lobby/atrium of the building to be full of people staring at the TVs. I stopped and watched and then realized what was happening. Classes were cancelled at that point. Went back to my apt and watched it on tv with my roommates and cried.I hope that we don't have a day like that ever again.

quidditchcapn1120

I was a junior in high school and had just come inside after early morning marching band practice. Most of our classes watched the news coverage for the rest of the day. One of our Spanish teachers' sons was killed in tower 2, so my Spanish teacher avoided it so as not to upset her.

hmp1

DH and I had taken the week off work for a stay-cation. We were sleeping in and our phone started ringing off the hook. The first message I listened to was my dad saying he talked to my brother and he was fine. My brother worked for Morgan Stanley in the towers but had worked until 2am the night before so he had not gone into the office yet. We turned on the tv and watched the entire day, and the rest of the week.  My brother and his wife lost a lot of friends that day. 

judahsmommy1

michaelaskedlauren:

I was a junior in college. My Mom called, waking me up and all she said was "Daddy's fine, Daddy's fine." I asked her why my Dad wouldnt be fine, and she told me to turn on the TV.

This make me cry. Just thinking of all the Daddies who weren't fine.

I was a Sr. in high school and was sleeping because I didn't have a first period class. I woke up shortly after the plane hit the second tower. I came out of my bedroom and my mother was crying.  I can count on one hand the number of times in my life I've seen my mother cry. She just doesn't. When I got to school everyone who wasn't in class was sitting quietly in the cafeteria watching televisions (that were never on typically.) While I was in one of my classes one of the girls was pulled out because her uncle had been on one of the planes. We didn't do anything in class but talk about it and watch coverage. There are a lot of things I'll never forget, but close to the top is watching people fall. I'll never be able to get that out of my head.

ridesbuttons

I remember it well.  It was a Tuesday, just like today.  I was covering for one of our managers who was off that week, just like this week.  We didn't have internet at work, or a tv even.  We had the local radio station on and the rumours were flying like mad.

I remember thinking, I should call my dad and see if he has the tv on.  I didn't.  I didn't talk to my dad ever again because he died the following day.

lildevil968

I was inside the Pentagon. It was my first duty station, and I had just arrived inside the medical clinic, and sat down at my desk. 6 Minutes later the plane hit, the lights went out, the building shook, smoke filled the halls, and people where screaming. What I thought was the smell of natural gas was actually the smell of jet fuel. I grabbed my medical bag, ran out the door, and helped a few people get out of the building. We set up a makeshift triage center right outside the building, and started tending to patients until the ambulances could arrive.

candyisdaves

I was at work when I heard about the attacks.  I was working as a hair stylist. My first customer was getting a malibu treatment.  I put her under the dryer and started a hair cut on an older man.  He asked if I had heard that a plane had hit the WTC. I had heard WTC mentioned on the radio on the way in but was not paying attention (i thought it was the anniversery of when it got bombed or something).  I finished his cut and went back and turned up the radio.  That was when the second tower was hit.

I lifted up the dryer and told the lady that she might wanna know what was going on.  She started crying because her father was supposed to be at a meeting in the second tower.  I rinsed her hair and got her out of there as quick as I could.  I will never forget the panic in that womans face.

We had no more customers that day. I was scheduled 9-7 and they would not let us leave.  I ended up asking if I could go home and get my rabbit ears so we could watch it on the kiddie station tv.  We sat and watched it all day. I will never forget when we saw those people jumping out of the building.  I couldn't imagine having to make that choice.  I still get choked up thinking about it.

A few weeks later the woman i was servicing came in and here her dad was stuck in trafic and never made it to the tower.  He was fine but she could not get ahold of him till the next day. 

citygirl22

Yes Auntie - about the weather.

I worked 2 blocks away at the time. we were in a business meeting with folks from the long island office when we heard a bang. no more than 2 minutes later, we couldn't see out of the window b/c of all of the flying debris and papers. of course we had no idea what this was and joked thinking the Yankees had already won the world series and this was the ticker tape parade. then we stuck our heads out of the window to see 1 WTC on fire and turned on the radio. we heard a small aircraft had crashed but we all thought it was an accident. i called dh (he was my boyfriend at the time) and a bunch of us went outside to watch. so we were standing there, trying to remember where most of our friends and others we worked with were located at Aon and Marsh. my very good friend worked at Cantor.

we then saw the 2nd plane hit and i will refrain from the details of the rest i saw at close range. so many people i knew, hanging out at the bars a couple nights before. DH found me and about 35 of us all walked together. we stopped every so often when people needed help. everyone was helping each other. when we got to china town, there was this spot on canal street where you saw both buildings burning and we all just stood there, not believing what was before our eyes. we then saw the south tower fall. somewhere around the 30's we found a payphone and i finally got through to my parents. we walked more and heard by radio that the 1st tower fell. we kept walking until we reached the 72nd st boat basin exit and crossed the west side highway. we were picked up by boat with several others trying to get across the river, many were hurt.

i can't explain the hours and days that followed while we watched the smoke clear - from jersey, from the boatride to and from work a week later, from the walk up wall street to see the sky instead of the massive view of the twin towers. but we stood there, united. it was a time of sadness but also pride. watching them place the american flag on the rubble was...i really can't find the words to describe what that felt like.

my landlord who i was pretty close with, lost his nephew who was at the control booth in the north tower. they had gotten some calls saying he made it out only to hear later this was not true. I worked in the Port Authority back in '96 and there were 2 people who I had lunch with about a month earlier. I was in the WTC AuBonPain about 9:30pm the night before, trying to decide which accounting class to take. how trivial but the memory is so clear...the days and moments before the attack. many memories flood my mind every year.

I agree with this sentiment I read earlier: "it will be different when those of us who witnessed it are no longer around. but until then, each of us will remember exactly where we were, how we felt, the horror of seeing jumpers, the fear of what might happen next, and the unity that pervaded our country for the next 48 hours."

when the first plane hit, i would have been in the trade center, either stuck underground on the path train or just coming through the platform where the escalators meet. i usually got into work a few minutes before 9. my boss decided to have an early meeting that particular tuesday because she was out of the office and so i was at work by 8:30. i think about this every year.

AshasaurusRex

I was at home getting ready for work when my brother called to tel me to turn on the TV, when I asked what station, he just said "It doesn't matter, any station." I turned it on and sat on the phone with my brother and we watched the second plane crash, that's when it sunk in that it wasn't an accident. I went in to work and we listened to what was happening on the radio, I cried when the first building collapsed.

AshasaurusRex

citygirl22:

Yes Auntie - about the weather.

I worked 2 blocks away at the time. we were in a business meeting with folks from the long island office when we heard a bang. no more than 2 minutes later, we couldn't see out of the window b/c of all of the flying debris and papers. of course we had no idea what this was and joked thinking the Yankees had already won the world series and this was the ticker tape parade. then we stuck our heads out of the window to see 1 WTC on fire and turned on the radio. we heard a small aircraft had crashed but we all thought it was an accident. i called dh (he was my boyfriend at the time) and a bunch of us went outside to watch. so we were standing there, trying to remember where most of our friends and others we worked with were located at Aon and Marsh. my very good friend worked at Cantor.

we then saw the 2nd plane hit and i will refrain from the details of the rest i saw at close range. so many people i knew, hanging out at the bars a couple nights before. DH found me and about 35 of us all walked together. we stopped every so often when people needed help. everyone was helping each other. when we got to china town, there was this spot on canal street where you saw both buildings burning and we all just stood there, not believing what was before our eyes. we then saw the south tower fall. somewhere around the 30's we found a payphone and i finally got through to my parents. we walked more and heard by radio that the 1st tower fell. we kept walking until we reached the 72nd st boat basin exit and crossed the west side highway. we were picked up by boat with several others trying to get across the river, many were hurt.

i can't explain the hours and days that followed while we watched the smoke clear - from jersey, from the boatride to and from work a week later, from the walk up wall street to see the sky instead of the massive view of the twin towers. but we stood there, united. it was a time of sadness but also pride. watching them place the american flag on the rubble was...i really can't find the words to describe what that felt like.

my landlord who i was pretty close with, lost his nephew who was at the control booth in the north tower. they had gotten some calls saying he made it out only to hear later this was not true. I worked in the Port Authority back in '96 and there were 2 people who I had lunch with about a month earlier. I was in the WTC AuBonPain about 9:30pm the night before, trying to decide which accounting class to take. how trivial but the memory is so clear...the days and moments before the attack. many memories flood my mind every year.

I agree with this sentiment I read earlier: "it will be different when those of us who witnessed it are no longer around. but until then, each of us will remember exactly where we were, how we felt, the horror of seeing jumpers, the fear of what might happen next, and the unity that pervaded our country for the next 48 hours."

when the first plane hit, i would have been in the trade center, either stuck underground on the path train or just coming through the platform where the escalators meet. i usually got into work a few minutes before 9. my boss decided to have an early meeting that particular tuesday because she was out of the office and so i was at work by 8:30. i think about this every year.

Now I'm in tears. It was traumatic to watch it on TV and listening about it on the radio, I can't even imagine being there. 

weberm05

It was my first week of college and we didn't know what happened...someone came into the classroom and said we can go home early b/c fellow classmates have family in NY.  Still had no idea what they were talking about....

Then on my ride home i heard it and thought...ummmm okay why are we going home????  Then they said a plane went down in Pittsburgh (really it was Shanksville) Then i'm like wow..that's kind of close...

What's crazy is I live like an hour away from the Flight 93 memorial....NEVER BEEN THERE!  Probably most of us in the area hasn't been.  Weird!

NerdyMama2

I was in my junior year of high school.

desdemona39

My mother was in tower 7, and my father was a first responder. They both survived, but a part of them died that day.

I was 17 and still living in my mother's house. I was ironing my clothes for work, turned on the TV, and saw breaking news, there was a fire and some kind of explosion in tower 1. At that point they didn't know for sure that it was a plane yet.  I called my mom's office immediately (tower 7 was right next to tower 1) and she didn't pick up- that's how I knew she made it out. Then I saw the second plane hit.

That day I was remarkably calm and collected. I kept everyone calm and eased the fears of people who called asking about my mother's whereabouts, even when I didn't know for sure she was ok. I somehow knew she was ok. I knew she would make it home, but I can't explain how I knew. When the 1st plane hit, all of the windows on that side of the building burst in. They went to leave and were told to return to their desks. My mother refused and got other people to leave with her. I later learned that a coworker of hers actually urged her to continue when she froze in shock once outside, and a few seconds later a large piece of debris fell in the spot she had been. She saved my mom's life. My mom walked home and didn't get there until the afternoon. The things she saw have scarred her to this day.

My aunt worked as a 911 operator. She was sobbing that hers was the last voice they ever heard, and that she had lied to them- she told them that she was sending help and they were going to get out ok.

I went to my (then) boyfriend's house because his father worked in tower 2. When the tower fell, his mother collapsed. Thankfully he made it out as well.

My cousin and her husband were in the lobby of tower 1, waiting for the elevator, and a ball of fire shot down the elevator shaft. They spent months in the hospital and will spend the rest of their lives disfigured.

This isn't the past for me. My mom suffers from anxiety, and my dad has severe PTSD to the point where he had to resign and move to another state. They both require medication. He can't be anywhere near the city, and because of it he has only seen my daughter a handful of times. It pisses me off that over a decade later my innocent child is made to suffer by not having much of a relationship with her grandpa.  This day is an open wound for me. I am lucky to still have my parents, but life will never be the same. It isn't just the families who lost someone who were affected. There are countless stories. My city, my home, is forever changed.